New York Rangers Need Us to Believe, Despite Recent Play

I was sitting there with a look of disbelief and horror, like I had just seen a ghost or something. What I saw, however was a team that looked like they didn’t belong in the same rink as the road team did. A team that has been outscored 18-3 in their last 5 playoff home games. A team that has not scored more than 3 goals in a home playoff game in 22 straight games, which according to John Buccigross is the second longest streak in NHL history. A team, that quite frankly, looks lost.

Injuries, Disappointment and Father Time

From the great start to the year—at least in the standings—to the injuries to key players, Rick Nash not putting the puck in the net to the steady decline of former All Star defenseman Dan Girardi, this season has had all the makings of a nightmare. All that is not even mentioning the Eric Staal trade, the collapse of the once almighty penalty kill, and the continued uselessness of the powerplay, the horrible decision making and stubbornness of head coach Alain Vigneault, and the continued usage of 4^th liner Tanner Glass.

All of these things that the New York Rangers beat reporters have been telling us Rangers fans and bloggers that we have been overreacting to over the course of this season have come back to bite the team, and are the main reasons for them being behind 3-1 in this first round series against the Penguins.

The Penguins, albeit, have been one of, if not the best teams in the NHL since the All Star Break, but that is no excuse for how badly the team has been outplayed. All of these things have made every miscue that the team has made during this season hurt a little bit more. All of these things lead back to one, scary and unfortunate fact…

The window to win is closing very, very quickly.

But I still believe.

New York Rangers Ride or Die

I’ve been a Rangers fan since birth. My parents met at a Rangers game, so if you want to get technical, they are the reason I am in existence. My priorities in life go like this; God, Family, and the Rangers. Even though I can be very critical of the Rangers (I am known to be more critical than most), for whatever reason, I still believe. This team is the first team in league history to come back from 3-1 deficits in two straight seasons (one of which was against the Penguins), so they have been in this position before, and have been successful.

I know this is a completely different team, arguably a much worse team then the past few to wear the blueshirt, and I know the Penguins are a much better team than they themselves have been in a long while, hell, they are my Eastern Conference champion pick in my bracket, but I still, for whatever reason have hope in my team.

Next: New York Rangers Looks to Tighten Up Power Plays

This team has given me no reason to believe that they can make this comeback with the way they have played this year, with the decisions the coaching staff has made, and the effort that they put forth in game 4, which by the way, is an utmost disgrace and of which I give almost all the blame to the head coach, but until the Penguins win one more game (which they very well could do tomorrow afternoon), it’s not over.

”One shift. One period. One goal.”-Boomer Esiason

If we can’t believe that there is a chance, why do we even bother to watch? Why do we still care? I’ll tell you why; it’s because every single one of us wearing the blueshirt still, to an extent, as little as it may be, believes. As an avid New York Rangers fan, former NFL quarterback and New York radio personality, Boomer Esiason always says, “One shift, one period, one game”. Hopefully the New York Rangers take this advice, and give the Penguins a run for their money.

Let’s all keep positive vibes. Let’s all keep believing.

Let’s go Rangers.

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